St. Paul-based Ecolab Inc. has launched a line of environment-friendly cleaning products that it expects will generate tens of millions of dollars in new revenue as more hotels, offices and government clients go green.
The products, marketed under the name EcoLogic, meet the 42 standards created by Green Seal Inc., a nonprofit environmental group that began certifying cleaning products as Earth-friendly in 2000. To earn and use the Green Seal logo, cleansers must be biodegradable, sold in recycled packaging, and free of chlorine, carcinogens, harmful vapors and other toxins that could hurt people or aquatic life.
Ecolab, with $4.2 billion in annual sales, invested at least $50 million over five years to develop EcoLogic's newly certified line of green floor strippers and cleaners for glass, bathroom and all-purpose use, among other products. Some cleaning agents were officially certified by Green Seal 18 months ago, while others won the designation in just the past few weeks, said Bruce Cords, Ecolab's vice president of environment, food safety and public health.
"It's only a matter of time before hotels start placing notes" with the Green Seal logo in their rooms, raising customer awareness of facilities that use the products, Cords said.
Some other Ecolab products, such as dishwashing and laundry detergents and odor neutralizers, meet Green Seal's guidelines but have not yet received a formal certification.
The new product line could generate more than $50 million a year thanks to Ecolab's own marketing and the trend among municipalities and companies to adopt environment-friendly purchasing programs, Cords said. Ecolab generates $4.2 billion a year in total sales, so $50 million is a small amount in comparison, but the company expects that number will only grow.
"This will be a multimillion-dollar business. It's something we would never get into it if we thought that there was no money to be made. ... For those who want green products, we want to be the No. 1 supplier," said Colleen Dillon, vice president of hospitality and health care marketing for Ecolab's institutional division.
Mark Petruzzi, vice president of certification for Green Seal, said Ecolab is one of the larger industrial-cleaner manufacturers to adopt the Green Seal mission. There are 50 Green Seal-certified manufacturers in all, including Maplewood-based 3M Co., which has five Green Seal-certified cleaning products, and Ecolab's main competitor, Johnson Wax Professional.
According to the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance, "green" cleaning products provide returns to customers as well as their makers. That's because the chemicals in some cleaning products can be harmful to maintenance workers and building occupants and can make the products more costly to store and track.
Minnesota already requires Green Seal certification on all industrial cleaners, and seven other states have adopted or are about to adopt the same standards: Massachusetts, Montana, Illinois, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York and Washington.
Minnesota vendors seeking state cleaning contracts now must submit information about the environmental performance of their cleaning products. The state recently evaluated 33 categories of cleaning products -- including all-purpose cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, furniture and glass polishes, deodorizers, disinfectants, soaps and floor cleaners -- to screen out harmful products before awarding contracts for cleaning state-owned buildings.
New EcoLogic corporate customers include Starwood Hotels, owner of the Sheraton and Westin chains, and Aramark Ltd., a food-service company that has contracts with the Navy, National Park Service, sports arenas and various firms throughout the country.
The move toward green cleaning products took hold after former President Bill Clinton ordered government offices to be cleaned with environment-friendly products. That created a problem, because Clinton "made the mandate without the structure behind it. There was no government definition for 'green,' " Dillon said.
"So what Ecolab has done is follow the principles of Green Seal," she said, because the group is well-known.
Dee Depass, Star Tribune |
